Updated July 14, 2026 at 7:12 PM EDT
The United States has restarted its maritime blockade against Iran, as the countries' standoff over the Strait of Hormuz intensifies, raising the specter of a return to all-out war in the region.
"U.S. forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas today at 4 p.m. ET," U.S. Central Command said in an online statement Tuesday. "There are currently more than 20 U.S. Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East. American forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready."
It is the latest escalation in the war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran on Feb. 28. It comes as Iran and the U.S. have stepped up attacks in the past week, leaving their tentative ceasefire in tatters with no sign of progress toward a final deal to end the war.
Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in comments carried by state media that the U.S. has destroyed the countries' memorandum of understanding signed last month.
Fighting continues
In the hour leading up to the blockade, CENTCOM said the U.S. launched another wave of strikes to "continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."
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Iran, in turn, has been striking U.S. allies and partners in the region, and commercial tankers it says are violating its claim of control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said earlier Tuesday that it had struck "two non-compliant" supertankers in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement in Iranian state media. Iran also said it launched missiles and drones against U.S. military infrastructure in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and U.S. military outposts in Jordan.
The United Arab Emirates' Defense Ministry said two of its tankers were targeted by Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani waters, killing one person. Bahrain authorities reported that sirens were sounded and urged citizens to head to safe places. Jordanian state media said the country's air defenses intercepted four Iranian missiles early Tuesday as they entered its airspace.
Trump reverses course on strait fees
President Trump on Tuesday said the United States would not impose fees on ships in exchange for helping them transit the Strait of Hormuz safely, reversing course a day after the surprise announcement that there would be a 20% cargo charge.
"Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," he wrote online. No further details on the investments have been provided.
Until this week, the U.S. had said there should not be any tolls or fees on shipping through the strait. In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That's existing international law."
Trump's online post Monday saying the U.S. would charge ships 20% cargo fees caused confusion and concern internationally.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he had changed his mind after feedback particularly from Gulf Arab countries.
"So I put it out yesterday. I thought it was good," Trump said of the idea to charge ships 20% cargo fees in exchange for providing safe passage. "I was called by different people, different countries, kings and emirs, and all of the people that we all know, and we all love, and they've been frankly, they've been very strong partners. And they said we'd love to do it a different way."
He later said, "You have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and you know primarily, and then others. They, I spoke to all of them, and they would love to invest more money in the United States at record amounts, and that would be very acceptable. And this way, there's no fee."
But Trump said the blockade was still going ahead.
It follows an earlier U.S. naval blockade on Iran from April 13 to June 18.
As CENTCOM announced preparations for the renewed blockade on Monday, it said mariners approaching the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz should "contact U.S. naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16." It said, "Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice."
Control over the Strait of Hormuz
Control over the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as the key point of contention between the U.S. and Iran. The deadlock over the waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world's energy supplies typically move, has disrupted global trade and increased fuel prices around the world.
Even before the latest round of strikes, just 22 ships crossed the strait on July 9 — compared to 147 crossings the day before the war began in February, according to Kpler, a firm that tracks global commodities and shipping.
Washington sees the Strait of Hormuz as an international waterway, but since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, Tehran has asserted its control over the strait and has insisted ships get permission and follow approved routes. Iran has been attacking ships if they did not comply with its orders and at times has announced the strait was closed.
Different interpretations of the memorandum of understanding
Critics of the interim deal signed last month between Iran and the United States blame the lack of details in the agreement for the confusion over the management of the strait that led to renewed fighting.
Michael Singh, a Mideast specialist and the managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that one such example is Paragraph 5 of the memorandum of understanding, which stipulates that Iran would make arrangements using its "best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vehicles." Singh says the Trump administration and Iranian leaders differ in their interpretation of that commitment, with Iran considering it controls the strait.
"Here, I think the wording, you know, hews much more to what Iran wanted to get out of that understanding because it seems to place responsibility for the straits in Iran's hands rather than reinforcing that this is an international waterway," Singh adds.
Prior to announcing the reinstatement of its blockade, the U.S. had urged ships to use a southern route that hugs the coast of Oman. Iran said this violated the memorandum of understanding.
Iran's Parliament speaker and negotiator with the U.S., Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted an image of the preliminary deal on social media, highlighting the section of Point 5 that says "Iran will make arrangements." He wrote: "The era of one-sided deals is OVER."
The U.S. has also accused Iran of breaching the memorandum.
"What was supposed to be a bridge from war to diplomacy has instead become another battlefield, with both sides using force to try to impose their own reading of the agreement's ambiguous terms," the International Crisis Group, a think tank that advocates to prevent war, said in a newsletter on the issue Tuesday.
During a NATO summit in Turkey last week, President Trump declared the ceasefire "over," but didn't rule out further talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a news conference Monday that his government was in touch with mediators, including Oman, Qatar and Pakistan, saying their role was to de-escalate the situation.
The foreign minister of Qatar, a mediator in the conflict, had said ceasefire talks would continue after the multiday funeral last week for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The ayatollah was killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes at the start of the war.
Current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — not seen publicly since he was injured early in the war — issued a statement on Saturday, through state media, vowing to avenge the death of his father and other Iranian officials killed by the U.S. and Israel.
NPR's Jackie Northam, Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Quil Lawrence and Deepa Shivaram contributed reporting.
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